Work location: Ottawa (preferred), Toronto, or Montreal. Fully remote possible.

Note: must be based in Canada and eligible to work (citizen or existing work permit)

Overview and Purpose

Artificial intelligence is rapidly transforming our lives, and the next few years are critical to ensuring it benefits Canadians and that the growing risks to human life and democracy are mitigated. The actions taken this year to shape AI development have the potential to impact our lives for years to come.

AIGS is Canada's leading civil society voice on frontier AI. We've produced cutting-edge policy, delivered 7 expert testimonies to Parliament, earned national media coverage, and attracted over 800 volunteer sign-ups. Our first four years were driven by founding Executive Director Wyatt Tessari L'Allié and a dedicated team of volunteers. Now that we have some funding, we're hiring a Head of Operations to help us rapidly scale our operational capacity so we can deliver on our core objectives for 2026/27:

• Increase Ottawa’s understanding of where AI is headed
• Push PM Carney to champion global coordination and prepare Canada for AI's impacts

In this role, you would build the operational backbone of AIGS: the finance, teams, compliance, and tech infrastructure to turn a remarkable volunteer effort into a high-performing organisation. You'll have the freedom to do what's needed and be held responsible for the outcome. If you thrive in small team environments when the stakes are high and the structure doesn't exist yet, this role could be for you.

Sneak peek: see an early draft of the upcoming "Intro to AIGS" video here.

Deliverables

Working with the Executive Director, the Head of Communications, Board members, volunteers, and contractors, the Head of Operations will over the next 12 months:

• Lead accounting and finance
  • Review bookkeeping and ensure best practices are in place by Dec 2026
  • Lead 2027 budget work (Dec 2026), then prepare quarterly updates for the ED & Board
  • Deliver 2026 YE T2, HST, and audit by Q2 2027
• Build and empower teams
  • Identify 4+ new team leads or key contributors from our 800+ volunteer applications, and onboard and empower them to scale AIGS's impact by Jan 2027
  • Review and modify volunteer management processes as needed
  • Provide event logistics support as needed
• Build tools and infrastructure
  • Validate and finalise the work trial tech stack assessment (see below) by Oct 2026
  • Deliver on finance and communications tech needs by Dec 2026
  • Deliver any other agreed-on tech stack priorities by Q2 2027
• Own compliance, governance, and risk
  • Ensure cybersecurity best practices are in place across the organisation by Nov 2026
  • Ensure AI and privacy best practices are in place by Jan 2027
  • Set up HR and contractor policies by Jan 2027
  • Resolve legal, insurance, and other (incl. Board) administrative as they arise
• Special project: Work with our lawyers to launch a charitable foundation and set up AIGS as dual-corporate structure, with all required compliance measures in place by Q3 2027

Qualifications for the role

• A track record of successfully setting up and scaling operations from scratch with limited budgets and small teams